God knew what God was doing. God promised a servant that would deliver Israel from their exile. The servant would be strong, filled with God’s spirit, persistent and tenacious. The servant would also be soft-spoken – the servant would not need to call attention to themselves, as their work for justice would speak for itself. We know the servant to be Jesus.

I want to be a servant, too. I cannot be a servant just like Jesus. But I can serve with the gifts God gave me. God will put in my path the people who need the gifts I can bring. What I can do is nurture my gifts and be open to people whom I can serve. I can also be prepared to accept help from other servants when offered. In our world, servanthood goes both ways. Those unwilling to offer or accept help miss the opportunity to move this world closer to God’s will for it. 

Isaiah 42:1-9

Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.